Zafra and Jerez de los Caballeros

While in Llerena, we can go to Zafra and Jerez de los Caballeros, rich and attractive in history.

The city of Zafra is located at the foot of the Sierra de Castelar, which during the Arab period was a key location between the kingdoms of Seville and Badajoz. At the end of the fourteenth century it became the domain of the ‘Señoría de Feria’, that of the first duke GómezSuárez de Figueroa. The second 'Duke of Feria' built the castle in 1437, now a Parador, declared a Historic-Artistic national monument in 1931.

The place is typically medieval, with narrow streets and placed next to the Alcázar; close to it are the Plaza Grande and Plaza Chica.

Jerez de los Caballeros is of Phoenician origin. In its vicinity you can see the famous "Toriñuelo" dolmen. Roman villas, anthropomorphic tombs, Visigoth remains, etc. Examine the settlement of Jerez in all historical periods. The fort is the most noteworthy and, with it, the parish church of St. ‘María de la Encarnación’, probably built on a Visigoth basilica.

Other religious monuments are the churches of San Bartolomé and San Miguel, which began in the fifteenth century under the influence of the Gothic style and finished its impressive towers in Baroque style.

There are numerous palaces and stately homes of magistrates and noble families who lived in Jerez de los Caballeros, as well as abundant beautiful convents, hospitals, ‘beaterios’ and chapels.

Whitewashed houses around parish churches and Baroque towers are among the typical features of this city.